1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates generally to distributed computer systems, and more specifically to a system for processing user requests, which separates process state from presentation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The rising popularity of computer communication systems such as the internet has given rise to new techniques for performing business transactions. It is not uncommon for several applications to carry on an interactive dialogue with multiple simultaneous users to perform many types of business transactions.
Internet based applications for performing business transactions generally include a number of pages which are presented to a remote user in some logical sequence. Each page has information which is presented to the user, and includes some type of input technique by which the user can enter information and make selections. Each page typically contains associated code which determines whether the user's input is valid, and determines which page comes next.
This approach to preparing internet-based applications is both demanding and somewhat limited. Application designers must be conversant with various aspects of web page design, as well as with the underlying business processes. Once an application has been completed, it may be copied and modified to be used again in the future, but is not very flexible. Significant modifications must be made to various details of the pages presented to the user. Entirely new application code must be written to adapt the application to a significantly different user interface, such as an audible interface to be used through the telephone as opposed to a visual interface to be used with a computer.
It would be desirable to provide a system and method for running such applications which was simultaneously more flexible and useful, and easier to program.